The instant invention relates to systems for expelling powder materials from mailpieces, and more particularly to a jogger system that compresses mailpieces while performing a jogging function.
Recent events have led to the realization that unscrupulous individuals may attempt to use the postal delivery system as a vehicle for spreading terrorism. These individuals have, for example, contaminated mailpieces with biological agents (such as anthrax) and distributed such mailpieces to targeted locations via the postal service. While the extent of damage that may occur by using mailpieces as a carrier of biological agents has yet to be determined, the potential for significant health risks is clear. Accordingly, increased efforts have been set forth toward the development of systems and processes that may be effective in detecting contaminated mailpieces within the postal delivery system prior to delivery to their final destination.
One such proposed system involves snipping the corner off every mailpiece (to create an opening at the corner of the envelope), placing the snipped mailpieces in a jogger system, operating the jogger system for approximately 3 minutes, pulling ambient air through the jogger system, monitoring the pulled air with two systems (one to test particle size and one to capture powder in a filter for subsequent lab testing of the material captured), then banding the mailpieces in a conventional banding machine to squeeze air out of the mailpieces, and finally sampling the air from the banding operation with the above two air-monitoring systems to determine the presence and nature of any powder materials prsent in the airflow. The air pulled through the individual workstations in this process is moved through a HEPA filter and vented outside the work area. Operation of this system is a time consuming process, with manual steps taken between each operation.
In the proposed system, once the air-monitoring filter has been tested for the presence of a biological agent, the mailpieces are unbanded and moved to a separate area for sorting and final distribution if the results of testing are negative. If a biological agent is detected however, the facility is shut down until decontamination can be performed.
One of the problems with the proposed system is the time required for the banding/unbanding operation. The value of the banding operation is not in the band that is placed around the mailpieces, but rather in the compression of the mailpieces that occurs during banding. The compression step serves to expel air from the mailpieces. In the event that a biological powder material is present in the mailpieces, it is carried with the expelled air and subsequently detected by the air-monitoring apparatus. Accordingly, if the banding/unbanding operation could be eliminated, the system would have a higher throughput and would benefit from a cost and complexity standpoint. By eliminating the banding/unbanding operation, the banding equipment and the ductwork associated with it can be eliminated. Also, the volume of air that would be required to be pulled through the entire system would be decreased thereby permitting the use of smaller vacuum sources thereby reducing costs.
A method for expelling air out of mailpieces includes the steps of creating a stack of the mailpieces; cutting an opening in at least some of the mailpieces; jogging the stack of mailpieces; and subjecting the stack of mailpieces to at least one compression/decompression cycle during the jogging step thereby expelling air out of the at least some of the mailpieces through their corresponding openings. A jogger system incorporates the structure for accomplishing the method.